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Urban Home: Space, Cuts Outs And Angles

If you’re a modern architect, working in an urban environment must be heaven right now. What’s going on in the design world when it comes to homes is quite exciting. We are transitioning from the postmodern era into something new but no one really knows what the direction is. Maybe it’s because the world of home decor and design has become so rapidly influxed with so many talented people and new viewpoints, that there is no discernable narrative. Nevertheless, for people who live in massively urbanized areas such as London, they are counting themselves blessed to have new ways of looking at space, flow, floor plans, materials and the lifestyle of minimalist living. When you live in a city where there are millions of people, space really does become so precious that you’re willing to pay for it. No wonder then, that contemporary interior design is focusing on cut outs, angles and retaining as much room as possible.

Cutting into it

Modern homes have to be smart with their usage of space. Yet, this all begins with the actual design of the home itself. The interior has to have the basis for allowing open floor plans, allowing for more space to be constructed, making use of space where nobody has thought of building or demolishing before. For example, check out these contemporary architects who have cut out of the staircase ceiling more space for a small library. As you head down the stairs from the 1st floor, rather than leave this space open, there is an extra room built into the design. It makes it look as if the room is floating, without support but it’s perfectly balanced. Domestic architecture is a challenge to find as much space as possible while not putting the structural integrity of the home at risk, and this is a perfect example of doing this.

Clean but practical

Despite the modern home desiring to be simple and minimalistic, there are elements that make the home pretty practical. For example you can design your walls so that they are inlaid into the structure of another wall either side. This can be in the living room for example where the fireplace is. Either side there will be walls that go slightly inward and then they pop out again near the edges. Inside these walls you can place shelves so that there is some practical use for this extra space however small it may be. This the whole point of a minimalist home, making sure that clean straight lines are not impeded but still having space to be practical and homely. Another great way to save space is to take individual bricks out of the walls to give you a space to place candles. This is a new way to utilize candlelight without having to make new shelves. Essentially you can cut out a piece of your wall to make a practical use of.

The urban home is full of surprises. It has to be in order to fully utilize as much space as possible. The designs therefore will need to think outside the box but still take into account the structural integrity of the home.